Seasons Greetings Eugenians,
Your City has been hard at work since the approval of the Climate Action Plan 2.0 in July of this summer. Today we are highlighting the City’s newest Internal Operations and Community Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventories, recent “A” score from the Carbon Disclosure Project, and details about tomorrow’s update to City Council at 12 PM. Scroll below for more information.
2019 GHG Inventories release
The City of Eugene released its 2019 Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) Inventories today! GHG Inventories are conducted every other year for both City operations and community-wide emissions to meet reporting requirements in Eugene’s Climate Recovery Ordinance (CRO). The inventories measure both GHG emissions and fossil-fuel use.
Community-wide emissions increased slightly in 2019 compared to 2017, totaling just over 1 million metric tons CO2 equivalent (MTCO2e). The increase stems primarily from increases in residential energy consumption and the transportation sector. Commercial and industrial energy consumption decreased during the same time period.
City of Eugene operational emissions increased in 2019 to just over 6,000 MTCO2e, an increase of about 24 percent. We found that the largest increase from 2017 was from fleet diesel consumption by 764 MT CO2e – this was due to renewable diesel market instability and the additional cost of over $1 per gallon of fuel, causing fleet to buy diesel blends with lower percentages of renewable fuel. Thankfully, the market has since stabilized, and Fleet has returned to using R99 fuel, a fuel blend made of 99% renewable fuel sources.
Another change within operational emissions was an increase in natural gas emissions due to changing needs and maintenance at public facilities including the Airport, community pools, Downtown Library, and the Hult Center. The primary drivers of this were increased services to residents and some mechanical issues, which have been addressed.
City of Eugene receives “A” score from CDP
In related news, the City of Eugene received an ‘A’ score from the Carbon Disclosure Project, a global reporting agency which scores municipalities’ submissions based on their efforts to reduce emissions and build resilience to the impacts of climate change. The City was one of 88 cities globally and 1 of 25 US cities to receive an A score, reflecting the City’s comprehensive efforts towards reducing GHG emissions as well as plans to equitably build resiliency within our community.
“We know that even while we work to protect lives from COVID-19 that environmental action cannot slow down”, says Mayor Vinis. “Both people and planet must be prioritized, and we are actively taking steps to do just that through our reporting efforts and the more than 115 actions identified in the CAP2.0.”
Sustainability update to City Council Wednesday, December 9th
At the Wednesday, December 9th, 12pm City Council Work Session, staff will provide an update on the 2019 GHG inventories, the CAP2.0, and on motions passed by Council related to the CAP2.0 in July 2020.
We hope you are faring the remaining days of 2020 well. We look forward to continuing this good work into 2021.
Very best,
Samantha Roberts
Climate Policy Analyst, AIC
Sustainability Program